What Does It Cost To Sail The Bahamas

We’ve been traveling full time now for almost eight years. Over the six years we spent trekking around North America by RV, and now a year cruising by sailboat, the first thing most people ask is how do you afford this? Which is almost always followed up by how much does it cost you to live this travelin’ lifestyle?

Our answer to these questions usually goes something like this: We’re not rich or retired. We work from wherever we are. As for how much it costs…well, it’s not as much as you might think. Most likely whatever your budget is right now, you could be living an alternative lifestyle for the same or less.

I know some people find the subject of one’s finances to be terribly offensive and rude, but I don’t mind. Our western society associates travel as something people do while on vacation. People often assume long term travel is for retirees, gypsies or the uber wealthy…it’s not thought of a legit lifestyle. That may have been true in the recent past, but a nomadic lifestyle is definitely coming back into fashion.

Since the wonderful worldwide internet was born, it has become significantly easier for people to work remotely. Thus, slowly increasing the number of working, full time travelers like ourselves. Granted, the internet isn’t the only way to make money and travel but it is the source for many. If you haven’t checked out our Make Money and Travel series yet, there are some inspiring people, ideas and stories to be found there.

So, if I bumped into me ten years ago, my piqued curiosity would have lead me to ask those same, seemingly financially invasive questions.

Which is why we don’t mind sharing our financial lives, despite the sometimes harsh judgement that comes along with it. We shared what it cost us to live the RV lifestyle and now we’re sharing what it costs us to live the sailing lifestyle.

You can always see all of our expense related posts and videos by clicking the our expenses tab on either our RVing or the Sailing page.

Ok, let’s get to it. Please keep in mind this is our personal expenses and is not an exact guide or budget. We all spend money differently, your costs could be the same, much less or way more.

What did you think? Was it more or less than you expected?

We were pleasantly surprised to see we easily kept our expenses down under 1k per month. If you want all the details and additional notes, it’s all down below. This is every penny we spent over the six months. If there is something you think we missed or would like to know more about, please let us know in the comment box below.

We are breaking our sailing costs down by country because it’s what seems to make the most cents (sorry, I couldn’t help myself) to us. Then we have a good idea of what it costs us on average to cruise each country in our sailing catamaran.

Engine Hours: Sometimes we only run one engine, other times we run both. We know it’s important to try and keep the engine hours the same but after the first week in the Bahamas our Yanmar Hour Display screens stopped functioning, so it was a guessing game. We do plan on getting the engine hours closer before our next oil change.

Starboard Engine – 72.7 & Port Engine – 157.7

Monthly Average – 15 hours of Engine Use. We sailed a total of 2111 nautical miles in the Bahamas, with a monthly average of 351.6 miles.

Generator Hours – 191 total, Monthly Average of 31.8. We must use the generator to run our water maker. We usually wash clothes while running the water maker and anything else that is a heavy draw. We do this every four days as per our watermaker manufacture recommendations. You can learn more about our watermaker here: gonewiththewynns.com/product/watermaker

Dinghy Gas – $136.78, Monthly Average $22.79 We use our dinghy a lot. We didn’t keep track of our dinghy hours or nautical miles very well. We will try to do so in the future.

Rental Car Gas: $213.63 We used a car for around five days total during the six months.

Eating Out – $664.44 Monthly Average – $110.74 We didn’t eat out often, but it was always nice to sit down and have a meal prepped for us, or enjoy interacting with the locals and business owners throughout the islands. The main reason we didn’t spend much on eating (or drinking) out is the majority of our time was spent at anchor, far away from any restaurant or bar.

Data – $349.24 Monthly Average – $58.20 We didn’t buy any phone minutes but opted for just the data packages. If we needed to make a call, we did so using the wifi.

CC Fees – $76.51 The fees from the few times we used our credit card in the Bahamas. Cash is king and cash is the preferred way to pay in the Bahamas. The more touristy islands will accept credit cards but be cautious of International fees. Smaller islands sometimes accept credit but often charge a 3-5% premium along with a minimum amount.

Entertainment: $45 There were only a few adventures we had that required a fee.

Hello there! I honestly don’t know what to say, so I am going to tell you a bunch of random facts instead. I'm a fish eating vegetarian who hates spiders and loves snakes. I almost never took vacations growing up. I wanted to be Pippi Longstocking (still do). I misspell about every other word I write and still struggle with grammar. I love splurging on a good high tea (which is really hard to find these days). And whatever you do, don’t tell me I can’t do something, because then I'll HAVE to do it!

Comments (71)

Renee

Curious Minion

They have not done a budget like that per se. On the sailing page of the blog there’s a tab labelled “our expenses” which gathers everything in one place. Costs for insurance, registration, etc. are given in a lump sum for the year. Keep in mind that your insurance costs will vary depending on where you sail (the Wynns have had to update their insurance company as they move around the globe and have had to pay extra premiums to be in certain locations) or whether your boat is in the “hurricane box” during hurricane season. https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/exhausting-journey-buying-cruising-sailboat

Maintenance is tricky: the rule of thumb is to set aside 10% of the value of the boat for annual maintenance, but Nikki & Jason say that they’ve talked to other sailors and they all think that’s a crazy-high number. See that discussion here: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/lessons-learned-sailboat-service The costs for their 2 visits in service was a bit higher than “annual maintenance” because 1) Curiosity was 11 years old and lots of things have a projected 10-year lifespan, so many things got replaced as preventative maintenance, and 2) Curiosity was outfitted for coastal cruising and Nikki and Jason were changing her over for bluewater sailing, so that added some expense.

And costs for food & daily living you’ve obviously found.

Poke around that expenses section and see if it answers most of your questions. If not, give us another yell here. Curious Minion

I just bumped into your vids and am Vicariously binging on your life. I am also a photographer on the west coast who is retiring and seeking all options and lifestyles. My wife and I have had a profitable career similar to yours. I have prior to marriage fantasized about retiring to a sailboat in the Caribbean. I would like to know also what the costs of maintenance and outfitting the Curious. As well as ongoing cost for same. I consider these necessary and a part of budgeting as I retire and consider not working vs working via the internet. Love the Vids, and info. Our favorite vacation spot is Tahiti. May I suggest spending a fair amount of time in the Society Islands, Marquesas, and mainly the Tuamotus then Rarotonga before you head for Bali, Tonga and points further west.

Curious Minion

If you follow this link and click on the “Our Expenses” tab, you’ll see posts re: costs of buying, registering & insuring Curiosity, some posts on repairs & outfitting, and “living costs” for the first 6 months aboard. https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/sailing

LYarnell

Jack Fletcher

With those experiences, you probably did not run out of your initial cash. During your cruise, did you have to replenish your cash in hand? Since ATMs were readily available, was this your planned source for getting more cash? I have spent years working full time in foreign countries and, at other times, living abroad off of my savings. I was always worried about running out of cash in hand. There was always cost in getting cash, cost varied. Even the same ATM would randomly work and not work. Really enjoy your videos. Only today just caught up with the current YouTube posted videos and now have turned to your website. Looking forward to what you will do south of the US border. I am now in Marina del Rey, CA. You are causing me to want to cruise. Wondering if the Panama Channel is much of a barrier to a private pleasure cruiser.

Cliff & Wendy

Curious Minion

I’ve found this really useful for my own budgeting as well as provisioning. . I’ve been wanting to know what actual living costs are on a boat. We are soon to embark on a similar journey across the Atlantic and onto the Caribbean for a few months later in the year. I will be quitting my job and going nomad. Hope to catch you both in the Caribbean this winter hopefully!

PS: what LUT do you use when colour grading your videos? Keep up the good work.

Tev

Good info, thanks for sharing. So glad you cleared up the “fishing” thing because based on the videos I’ve seen of you two fishing I couldn’t help but think you need lessons! LOL Guess you have learned to cut the line when something is flying and taking your line with it. If you can’t land, or boat, it then get rid of it-quick!

mike

Andrea Clerkin

Thanks for sharing your expenses and well everything really. As you know being on the road means no decent WiFi at times so I’ve only just watched your last 3 vids. All amazing, dolphin scene brought tears of joy to my eyes. I just love following your adventures and can’t wait to see you make way after your service stop. Thanks for giving me the warm fuzzys! Take care guys.

Wylie Elson

Hi there! We really appreciate you sharing this info! We’re in a similar situation as you are, we’re “young”, 29 & 31 years old. We own a small, yet profitable digital marketing company in Florida. And we can easily work remotely. We’ve done a lot of traveling in the last couple years and recently got married in April and we have a wild hair before we take on the adventure of having children. We’ve decided to also purchase a Leopard 45 Catamaran Owners Version (our dream/goal) and travel the Caribbean for 2 years while working from the sailboat (we’re saving up!). One major concern for us is internet accessibility. We found that satellite internet will run us about $1500/month! How do you overcome this obstacle??

Curious Minion

Yes, any satellite plan that’s comparable to what you have now is too pricey! A basic satellite plan will cost far less and will still let you send & receive phone calls, e-mail and text messages, but streaming data is just too expensive. You may have to get used to downloading while you’re in WiFi range and doing without when you’re at sea.

Roger B.

Georgie Seville

Denise Fonseca

I can see some of the hard work “behind the scenes” with your ability to quote exact expenditures by item. So organized! Nothing salty about your spending…you guys did amazing! I chuckled that you put beer and wine in the provisions category instead of entertainment. I had better change that on my personal budget…thanks for correcting me that it’s a “need”! (Just that mental correction will make it taste better!)

swaan

Mark E. Campbell

The accountant in me loves these budget videos! We live in Ecuador and travel throughout South America. I’m curious about what type of security you plan on carrying aboard Curiosity as you sail southward. After years of living in South America, I can say it is safe….but there are some bad apples (like everywhere) especially on the coastal (poorer) areas. ¡Bienvenidos!

Long Gone

mary

Looks like several have already mentioned the interest free credit cards. I have found the rates to be different in many countries. It is a smart idea to apply for one since you will be traveling to many new places.

You are conservative with your spending until you are ready to spend, then you go all out. (or at least all out for your budget) 🙂

Don Capellani

You never mention your composting toilet. Where do you empty it and how often? What about the crew your taking onboard? You must have to have pine straw or coconut husk or something don’t you??? Do you take to shore and dig a hole?? Just asking

Curious Minion

If you are more than 3 miles offshore you can legally pitch it overboard, just like you can legally dump your marine toilet holding tank. If sailing or anchoring inshore, the compost can go to the local dump. And yes, coconut coir is part of the provisioning before setting sail.

Long Gone

Follow-up on the composting toilet question — in the RV you didn’t use a liner inside the compost bin; however, at anchorages and the occasional marina are you using a trash bag to make disposal easier on land? Also, glad to hear you hooked a few dinners! After watching all your videos I was beginning to wonder why your grocery and dining expenses weren’t a lot higher!

Curious Minion

rob mclennan

What surprises me is the expenses for up keep, and repairs. It seems that dropping 50 or 60k every 6 months or so, seems to be a norm? Does the salt water seem to affect the electrical connections more often then fresh water? On the Bright side you two will try anything! What a fantastic Team!

Curious Minion

Dave Silver

Those are REEALLY low expenses compared to what I would have thought. I own a recent model powerboat and I have run into catamarans coming in from as far away as New Zealand. Apparently, cats, are a truly great way to get around the world – and cost effectively!!

I’m curious what RV you would get if you were to decide to move back ashore as landlubbers?

Sam Walker

John Gangl

Also a comment about exchange fees for Credit Cards, but this is in Canada, most Credit Cards in Canada charge 2.5% but also, there are Credit Cards that don’t charge anything. One of those is the Amazon Visa through Chase Bank. There is no cost what so ever to use this card except the actual exchange.

A side note, the current exchange rate is around for $1.00 US you will get $1.35 CAD. You should sail sometime up to Canada, you would save even more, but do this only in the summer! The Maritimes or British Columbia has great sailing.

Katharine Nichter

Laura

One more thing, on credit cards, Bof A has a travel credit card with no fees for travel. And no annual fees either, if you have a savings/checking with them. We have been pretty happy with it as you can carry your first year of credit charges interest free, too.

Mike

Let me understand. BofA has a travel “credit” card that has no fees if you are a customer “on each transaction out of the country”? Pretend I am in the Abacos and charge my drinks at Nipper’s, There will be no “foreign transaction fee” added to my statement?

Curious Minion

Laura

Great recap! What an adventure! We finally got into our RV and are stuck in concrete parking lot RV Park in Reno. Our house sold, then the escrow fell through… we are in nomadic pergatory….we are on hold for all adventures until we can release the responsibility of our house in CA. And, geez, the weather has been 100+ degrees for over a week. So, we are melting. But, we have hope, and your adventures keep me going! Thanks you two for showing us that it can be done.

Jody Mooney

I just love the both of you! Thank you as alsways. I have followed your advise on purchasing WiFi equipment on our 2017 LTV Unity. I hope one day to experience a trip with the both of you! Thank you again for all that you do!

Provision costs are one thing, but I guess taxes, insurance, repair costs beyond what you talked about here would be nice to know. The cost of actually owning the boat should be included as part of your costs. I can guess what you paid for your boat, but do you have info about how much you spent on unfit costs?

Marie

These costs have already been documented in their previous videos. They are very transparent in the expenses from purchase to today. As noted at the beginning of their video those cost vary dramatically based on the vessel.

Curious Minion

Captain Tiim

I’ve been following your Bahamas trip for months and I am heading to Bahamas this fall. Got a question on paying for things in general. You probably don’t want to get too far into the details, but did you have any issues with running short on cash since the more remote places don’t have banks? Are ATMs pretty easily available? What about smaller stores — can they do CCs/ Debit Cards, or do you need to do cash? (We’ve gotten so spoiled in the US :)…)

don watkins

I love what you are doing and wonder if RV is every in the plans n the future. This was great information. I am curious about the boat cost. Meaning can you depreciate part of the 320K cost. Also can you charge off part of the solar?

Thank you for this information and what great timing! We are currently doing our budget to downsize from a 5 bedroom home to a liveaboard a 40-45 foot catamaran at the end of the year. We have enjoyed following your adventures and hope to see you at sea sometime!

Natalie

Capital One Venture Card does not have international card fee’s. We get double miles (2 for 1) for every dollar spent. The miles can be used on anything travel related, i.e. Watermaker’s Air to get from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport to Staniel Cay Airport direct. There is a $59 annual fee which is pretty close to your $75 “fees” but at least you get something in return for the money you are spending.

Curious Minion

Actually, it was both fees from our credit card and the vendors that added up. We have a debit card we can use that doesn’t have any fees but we do need to open a new credit card for future travels. Thanks for the tip on the Capital One card. We will check it out.